Seth's mind fractured and began to crumble under pressure, the glowing ruby-red ring around his finger beginning to grow deep, gleaming cracks, slowly spreading round the metal frame.
Seth's expression was painted with pure agony, his eyes squeezed unwillingly tight, as his vast mental sea began to sizzle and evaporate.
Shadows flickered around Seth's frame and the other three as the corrupted, rallied by the zone guardian, pounced as it let out a vicious screech.
The other three were barely holding on compared to Seth. Brandon and Jack, the newcomers, bore even more frail minds than Seth's, and overwhelming them came much more easily to the zone guardian.
It could be said that a whopping fifty percent of the charmed beast's efforts were poured into restricting Seth's mind.
Because he was the only one to be able to pull himself out of the dreamscape he had been trapped in, even though it was by pure chance, it still spoke of his capabilities.
